This article delves into the concept of intoxication [stupor or agony] of death and how it renders the truth as both universally undeniable and acceptable.
It does so for the first time to nonbelievers, whereas to believers, death only emphasizes the obvious; embodiment and validation of their faith.
In Quranic terminology, death is Al-Yaqeen; an absolute certainty, and for believers, an unshakeable conviction of truth.
The believers are only the ones who have believed in Allah and His Messenger and then doubt not… (Al-Hujurat 49:15.)
Too little time is taken to reflect on the impact of our thoughts and behaviors given the certainty of death.
What is the relationship between the intoxication of the truth life and the certainty of death?
Death is the gateway between this world and the Hereafter.
The Quran says:
And the intoxication of death will bring the truth; that is what you were trying to avoid. (Qaf 50:19)
The intoxication of death is a moment – or a series of moments – when a person is transported from this world to the Hereafter.
In death, we become unconscious and unresponsive to this world, yet conscious and sharp-eyed regarding the Hereafter.
It is a time when the laws and standards of this world stop functioning and those of the Hereafter take over.
Death itself is the gateway between the two realms; to genuinely live, a person must die first, thus, death becomes the fountain of life.
Moreover, that is a time when all masks will fall off and nothing but the absolute truth will be revealed; as if death carries a “no entry” sign for all contrarians of truth.
Abdullah Yusuf Ali beautifully conveyed that once a person reaches this stage and passes through the death gateway, he will realize, “how the things which he neglected or looked upon as remote are the intimate realities, and the things which seemed to loom large in his eyes in this world were shadows that have fled.”
The truth in the above verse could mean several things. However, it generally implies the truth, as a whole, concerning existential reality of Allah Almighty, life, death, the Hereafter, and self.
In short, the truth implies full insights into everything people are supposed to know, have faith in, and act upon, primarily based on revealed wisdom and guidance.
The following four points can be garnered from the verse.
Read the article here.